President of the United States

President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers a radio address, 1933

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the 1964 Civil Rights Act as Martin Luther King Jr. and others look on

President Donald Trump delivers his 2018 State of the Union Address, with Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan

President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Gorbachev sign the 1990 Chemical Weapons Accord in the White House.

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, successfully preserved the Union during the American Civil War.

President Barack Obama with his Supreme Court appointee Justice Sotomayor, 2009

President Ronald Reagan reviews honor guards during a state visit to China, 1984

President Woodrow Wilson throws out the ceremonial first ball on Opening Day, 1916

President Jimmy Carter (left) debates Republican nominee Ronald Reagan on October 28, 1980.

Map of the United States showing the number of electoral votes allocated following the 2010 census to each state and the District of Columbia for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential elections; it also notes that Maine and Nebraska distribute electors by way of the congressional district method. 270 electoral votes are required for a majority out of 538 votes possible.

Franklin D. Roosevelt won a record four presidential elections (1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944), leading to the adoption of a two-term limit.

President William McKinley and his successor, Theodore Roosevelt

President Reagan surrounded by Secret Service

From left: George H. W. Bush, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter. Photo taken in the Oval Office on January 7, 2009; Obama formally took office thirteen days later.

Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter at the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas, 2013

The presidential limousine, dubbed "The Beast"

The presidential plane, called Air Force One when the president is on board

Marine One helicopter, when the president is aboard

Head of state and head of government of the United States of America.

- President of the United States

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United States Electoral College

Electoral votes, out of 538, allocated to each state and the District of Columbia for presidential elections to be held in 2024 and 2028, based on representation, which depends on population data from the 2020 census. Every jurisdiction is entitled to at least 3.

In the 2020 presidential election (held using 2010 census data) Joe Biden received 306 and Donald Trump 232 of the total 538 electoral votes.
In Maine (upper-right) and Nebraska (center), the small circled numbers indicate congressional districts. These are the only two states to use a district method for some of their allocated electors, instead of a complete winner-takes-all.

Cases of certificates of the electoral college votes confirming the results of the 2020 US election, after they had been removed from the House Chambers by congressional staff during the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack.

After the popular election in November, a state's Certificate of Ascertainment officially announces the state's electors for the Electoral College. The appointed Electoral College members later meet in the state capital in December to cast their votes.

Population per electoral vote for each state and Washington, D.C. (2010 census). By 2020 estimates, a single elector could represent more than 700,000 people or under 200,000.

When the state's electors meet in December, they cast their ballots and record their vote on a Certificate of Vote, which is then sent to the U.S. Congress. (From the election of 1876)

This cartogram shows the number of electors from each state for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Following the 2010 Census, New York and Ohio lost two electoral votes, 8 states lost one, 6 states gained one, Florida gained two, and Texas gained four.

This graphic demonstrates how the winner of the popular vote can still lose in an electoral college system similar to the U.S. Electoral College.

Bar graph of popular votes in presidential elections (through 2020). Black stars mark the five cases where the winner did not have the plurality of the popular vote. Black squares mark the two cases where the electoral vote resulted in a tie, or the winner did not have the majority of electoral votes. An H marks each of two cases where the election was decided by the House; an S marks the one case where the election was finalized by the Supreme Court.

These maps show the amount of attention given to each state by the Bush and Kerry campaigns (combined) during the final five weeks of the 2004 election: each waving hand (purple map) represents a visit from a presidential or vice presidential candidate; each dollar sign (green map) represents one million dollars spent on TV advertising.

Half the U.S. population lives in 143 urban / suburban counties out of 3,143 counties or county equivalents (2019 American Community Survey)

The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president.

Vice President of the United States

Though prominent as a Missouri Senator, Harry Truman had been vice president only three months when he became president; he was never informed of Franklin Roosevelt's war or postwar policies while vice president.

1888 illustration of John Tyler receiving the news of President William Henry Harrison's death from Chief Clerk of the State Department Fletcher Webster

Then-Vice President Joe Biden meets with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, 2010

Geraldine Ferraro speaks at the 1984 Democratic National Convention following her selection as the party's vice presidential nominee

Four vice presidents: (from left) outgoing president Lyndon B. Johnson (the 37th vice president), incoming president Richard Nixon (36th), (Everett Dirksen administering oath), incoming vice president Spiro Agnew (39th), and outgoing vice president Hubert Humphrey (38th), January 20, 1969

(Left to right) President Richard Nixon, First Lady Pat Nixon, Betty Ford and Congressman Gerald Ford after President Nixon nominated Congressman Ford to be vice president, October 13, 1973

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The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession.

List of presidents of the United States

The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College.

Joe Biden

Results of the 1972 U.S. Senate election in Delaware

Biden and his second wife, Jill, met in 1975 and married in 1977

Biden shaking hands with President Ronald Reagan, 1984

Biden speaking at the signing of the 1994 Crime Bill with President Bill Clinton in 1994

Senator Biden accompanies President Clinton and other officials to Bosnia and Herzegovina, December 1997

Biden addresses the press after meeting with Prime Minister Ayad Allawi in Baghdad in 2004.

Biden campaigns at a house party in Creston, Iowa, July 2007

Biden speaks at the August 23, 2008, vice presidential announcement at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois

Biden being sworn in as vice president on January 20, 2009

President Obama congratulates Biden for his role in shaping the debt ceiling deal which led to the Budget Control Act of 2011.

Biden, Obama and the national security team gathered in the White House Situation Room to monitor the progress of the May 2011 mission to kill Osama bin Laden

Biden with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, March 9, 2016

Biden with Vice President-elect Mike Pence on November 10, 2016

Biden with Barack Obama and Donald Trump, at the latter's inauguration on January 20, 2017

Biden at his presidential kickoff rally in Philadelphia, May 2019

Biden takes the oath of office administered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. at the Capitol, January 20, 2021

Biden meeting with Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg in the Oval Office, June 7, 2021

Biden in a video conference with Vice President Harris and the U.S. National Security team, discussing the Fall of Kabul on August 15, 2021

Biden, UK prime minister Boris Johnson and UN secretary-general António Guterres at the opening ceremony of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow on November 1, 2021

Biden with Ketanji Brown Jackson in the Oval Office

Biden with refugees from Ukraine in Warsaw, March 2022

President Barack Obama and Biden talk with Xi Jinping, February 14, 2012

President Obama presents Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, January 12, 2017

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who is the 46th and current president of the United States.

Inauguration of Joe Biden

Inaugural platform at the United States Capitol

The inaugural platform occupied by pro-Trump rioters during the storming of the United States Capitol, fourteen days before the inauguration

Troops resting on the floor of Emancipation Hall inside the Capitol

Security-related site restrictions in and around the National Mall, Southwest D.C., Capitol Hill, and downtown Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day

A social media graphic from the Biden Inaugural Committee regarding the National Day of Service

The National Mall covered with flags representing inaugural attendees who were unable to attend in person

Biden, Harris, and their spouses at the Lincoln Memorial lighting ceremony

Trump greets a crowd of supporters during his farewell ceremony

Poet Amanda Gorman recites "The Hill We Climb"

Harris takes the oath of office, administered by Justice Sotomayor

Biden delivers his inaugural address to a socially distant crowd

Biden, Harris, and their spouses, participate in a Pass in Review

Biden and Harris lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery

The inaugural parade procession passes the White House

The presidential motorcade carrying Biden travels to the White House

Fireworks during the finale of "Celebrating America"

The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States took place on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, marking the start of the four-year term of Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris as vice president.

Article One of the United States Constitution

Article One of the United States Constitution establishes the legislative branch of the federal government, the United States Congress.

Opening of the 112th Congress in the House of Representatives chamber, January 5, 2011

Gilded Age monopolies could no longer control the U.S. Senate (left) by corrupting state legislatures (right).

The impeachment trial of President Clinton in 1999, with Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding

Newly naturalized citizen Albert Einstein received his certificate of American citizenship from Judge Phillip Forman.

Congress's "power of the purse" authorizes taxing citizens, spending money, issuing notes and minting coins.

Chief Justice John Marshall established a broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause.

Congress authorizes defense spending such as the purchase of the USS Bon Homme Richard.

U.S. brig Perry confronting the slave ship Martha off Ambriz on June 6, 1850

Section 7 lays out the procedures for passing a bill, requiring both houses of Congress to pass a bill for it to become law, subject to the veto power of the president of the United States.

Indirect election

Election in which voters do not choose directly between candidates or parties for an office , but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties.

The President of the United States is elected indirectly. Technically, in a US presidential election, eligible members of the public elect the members of an Electoral College, who have previously pledged publicly to support a particular presidential candidate. When the electoral college sits, soon after the election, it formally elects the candidate that has won a majority of the members of the electoral college. Because the electoral college seldom acts in an unexpected or unpredictable fashion, it is sometimes regarded as a ceremonial body, and US presidential elections are regarded as semi-direct. Conversely, because the members of the federal cabinet, including the vice president are, in practice, nominated by the president, they are unquestionably elected indirectly. The electoral college is a controversial issue in US politics, especially following presidential elections when voting is polarized geographically in such a way that the electoral college [[List of United States presidential elections in which the winner lost the popular vote|elects a candidate who did not win an absolute majority of the popular vote]]. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, if enacted, would replace the Electoral College with a de facto plurality based direct election.

Powers of the president of the United States

President Barack Obama, in his capacity as commander-in-chief, salutes the caskets of 18 individual soldiers killed in Afghanistan in 2009.

A painting depicting president George Washington and his troops before their march to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794.

President Abraham Lincoln advising with his Generals during the American Civil War.

The powers of the president of the United States include those explicitly granted by Article II of the United States Constitution as well as those granted by Acts of Congress, implied powers, and also a great deal of soft power that is attached to the presidency.

Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution

Ulysses S. Grant is shown surrendering to James A. Garfield after losing the 1880 Republican presidential nomination to him, in this satirical Puck cartoon.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected to four terms, was president from 1933 until his death in 1945.

A map of how the states voted on the Twenty-second Amendment

The Twenty-Second Amendment in the National Archives

The Twenty-second Amendment (Amendment XXII) to the United States Constitution limits the number of times a person is eligible for election to the office of President of the United States to two, and sets additional eligibility conditions for presidents who succeed to the unexpired terms of their predecessors.